Gagan Kaul Blog

Entrepreneur Guidelines

EntreWorld is a website for entrepreneurs. It is a resourceful site for budding start-ups, discussing various dos and donts and giving practical advise for all stages of a start-up life cycle.

Auren Hoffman’s recent article on Entrepreneurial Boards discusses the leadership engine for the evolutionary stages of a start-up.

“Boards of advisors are best for helping entrepreneurs build companies in the formative stage, whereas boards of directors lend a hand during times of crisis or change, writes a serial entrepreneur.”

Read the full article here.

A strong board of directors can make the difference between success and failure for a start-up company. And, an effective advisory board can help one recruit those directors. Specific examples, indicating the tasks a board can accomplish and the skills it can bring to them, make this article particularly enlightening. The article can be assumed to be a Business 101 course :)).

Further, here is a business plan guide.

Multiple Interviews for One Job: The present-day scenario.

csmonitor.com published an article on the 12-step job interview. There was a time when the recruiter took 20 minutes to size you up and skim your résumé before leaping to his feet and barking, ‘Kid, I like the cut of your jib. Welcome aboard!’. It makes an interesting reading.

But today, with employers comfortably ensconced in the labor-market driver’s seat, hiring decisions based on instinct are practically unheard of. Indeed, it’s not at all unusual these days for a candidate to be grilled by six, eight, or even a dozen interviewers on various rungs of the corporate ladder as part of the overall screening process, say human-resources executives, headhunters, and other experts in modern hiring practices

“Many companies have made bad hires; now it’s their market, and they’re determined to find the people they want,” explains Marie Raperto of the Cantor Concern, a New York City recruiting firm. “Even someone seeking a mid-level job has to be prepared to go through six or seven interviews,” she adds. “It’s endless.”

“You can’t even get nine people to agree on where to go for lunch,” he adds. “How can you expect them to agree on a person?” But in an age where companies routinely boast about their teamwork ethos, nonhierarchical cultures, and commitment to “cross-functional” collaboration, it’s easy to see why consensus now plays a major role in hiring. Many companies known for attracting top-flight talent say they believe that gathering a wide variety of perspectives is essential to ensuring that the right person gets the job.

Problems with group hiring arise when junior staffers or peers are given veto power in the final decision, says Bob Woodrum, a partner at executive-recruiting giant Korn/Ferry International. Recounting a recent incident in which a candidate was dismissed by a Fortune 100 client despite having favorably impressed 11 of 12 interviewers, he notes that “everyone has a different agenda,” and that such agendas - whether personal or political - can conflict with the organization’s best interests. “This was a case where 11 people had said, ‘This guy’s a hire.’ But one person said the candidate wasn’t enthusiastic enough, and that was it.”

Read the whole article Here.

Origami Boulders

I came across this hilarious site selling Origami Boulders. Origami is a Japanese art of folding paper. What they are selling is wadded up paper or something like that. The amusing part is the sarcastic way. Interesting are the dealings with the post office and banks. The site promises free shipment (though God only knows who would like to order wadded up paper). Its a laughing riot all the way. Check it out. The site title bears the name Origami Boulder Company — Original Origami Gifts!. Check out this excerpt from the site:

“Site is real. You order and you really get origami boulder artwork with special card to display at your home or workplace. Make good unforgettable gift for friends!

You buy wadded paper boulder and keep it. Or send many to your friends as very nice gift that no one ever forget! I include special card with every order that explain work of art. You buy 20, I send you free extra one with special message from me!

Hurry up and order now!

I send you wadded paper with Priority Mail. It is fast with nice free box from Post Office. Post office worker tell me, ‘Don’t take so many free boxes! You must order them online from USPS! Other customers mad when you take them all!’ I laugh and yell, ‘It says free, bureaucrat!! What you expect, dumb dumb?’

Update!!!! Wall Street Journal article on 5/29/02 say that Priority Mail is ripoff and doesn’t arrive faster than First Class mail. This is outrage from post office lazy people. I complain today at post office and they laugh and pretend article isn’t true. Who you believe, slow postman or Wall Street Journal? Now maybe I buy special boxes and send First Class instead of wasting money on Priority Mail. I make most efficient decision for customer benefit.

My friend is graphic designer for big company. She design page for me because FrontPage too hard for wadded paper artist!

I change design and she send email that says, “you’ve ruined my beautiful site!!! :O( what in the hell is up with origami boulder?!?!?!?!”

I tell her, “You designer, not site owner! I change whatever I like. You get paid, didn’t you? Then go away now!!!” Her design have too many pages and Jakob Nielsen say Internet people too lazy to click so I make everything one page.

Schools of the Future

Ode Magazine’s latest issue sports an article written by the famous Ben Okri on the “Schools of future”. He writes that in the future, centres of learning will teach at least one thing we do not teach today: the art of self-discovery. There is nothing more fundamental in education. We turn out students from our universities who know how to give answers, but not how to ask questions.

A really well written article. I hope we would analyse the shortcomings mentioned there, and strive to improve the educational models we currently have, imbibing new ideas and new paradigms into our present systems.